Training

Networking brings cheer to training players

The increasing need for network professionals is about to have a rippling effect on the IT training segment. To cater to this demand, training players are taking proactive steps to foray into niche areas like security, storage and Linux. Chitra Padmanabhan says the future is bright for networking professionals

It is heartening to see apprehensions about the future of IT training segment are slowly fading away. The economic slowdown and the increasing number of people on the bench had put a question mark on the future of the training segment. IT professionals as well as students were no longer convinced about the effectiveness of training courses. As a result of this, training outlets disappeared as fast as they had mushroomed in the heydays of the IT sector. But today, when the bench phenomenon is a thing of the past and the boom in the economy has left enough scope for companies to invest in IT, the demand for IT professionals is on the rise.

However, industry experts seem to suggest that the hardware and networking training segment have better days ahead. Demand seems to be focused on general and sector-specific networking courses. For instance, in recent times enterprises have made significant investments in storage as well as security-related applications and are showing great interest in adopting Linux. As a direct outcome of this, there is likely to be a sharp increase in the demand for professionals with skills in niche areas within the networking spectrum.

Sector trends

The future of any sector can be analysed on the basis of past developments. According to players in the training arena, the slowdown did not have much impact on the networking training segment. This is because the relationship between network courses and software-related courses are different in the sense that networking professionals do not get into a project-based environment like software developers.

“The slowdown essentially had a harsh effect on the software training segment due to a lack of projects, whereas the demand for professionals in the network and hardware training segments has been steadily growing and will continue to do so,” says Sudhir Dhar, senior technical manager, Jetking Infotrain.

Secondly, there are certain inherent factors within the networking spectrum that guarantees its future growth. If you draw a comparison with the software segment, the entry barriers for the networking segment are at a bare minimum. For instance, there is no eligibility criteria for certification courses

like MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer), CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), CNA (Certified Novell Administrator). On the other hand, the software sector prefers to hire BEs, MCAs, MCMs (computer management) as compared to people who have finished a software course. Fresh engineering graduates are available in plenty and there is no room for students coming from training institutes.

Lately, it has also been observed that engineering students who have not been able to acquire jobs are moving towards the network engineering space. Typically, this sector absorbs engineering students from the electronics, instrumentation and IT streams. “Students are approaching us to upgrade themselves with certifications that will help them grow in the networking space,” says Jitendra Nair, vice president of Karrox Technologies. In the next few years, it is likely that most networking professionals would have a hardcore engineering background with multiple certifications.

Earlier, students considered software to be lucrative due to hefty pay packets, but in recent times they are willing to chalk out their career paths in the networking segment as well. If all these factors are anything to go by there is likely to be a sure rush of students to achieve certifications in multiple operating systems. On being questioned about the student mix in their centres, Sudhir Bhaskaran, senior business manager of CMS Computers says, “15 to 20 percent of our students are professionals in the field and the rest are freshers.”

Adds Pradyumn Sharma, managing director for Pragati Software, which specifically caters to the corporate training segment, “Unlike students, corporate professionals look for strong conceptual and troubleshooting tips and are ready to pay a hefty fee for the same.”

Networking in a broader perspective

Research agencies tracking the networking market often use figures of PC shipments to estimate the need for networking professionals. According to MAIT, the networking market is worth

Rs 2,235 crore and is growing at a rate of 10 percent. “On a broader perspective there is a need for one networking professional per shipment of 40-50 boxes. This amounts to immense job opportunities for networking professionals,” says Dhar. With robust growth prospects, the IT market is expected to grow at 18 percent in FY 2003-04 and PC sales are expected to cross 27 lakh units, according to the recent findings of the MAIT-IMRB Industry Performance Review for 2002-03.

There are other research reports that predict positive growth for this sector. According to IDC, there will be a worldwide shortage of 1.9 million networking professionals by 2004. Looking at Asia-Pacific alone, the skill gap is expected to widen at a rate of 41 percent, resulting in a shortage of almost 3,00,000 networking professionals by 2004. “Growth in investments in hardware, efficient use of bandwidth, proliferation of computers and networks are some of the factors that decide the direction of the network training sector,” says A Thimmiya, senior vice president & head sales and placements, Aptech Computer Education.

The biggest advantage of this sector is that the need for setting up networks is never going to diminish. With networks playing an important role in satisfying the storage and security concerns of organisations, there will be no dearth of jobs for networking professionals. “As more companies are investing in IT infrastructure, security is emerging as a promising field. Another area is the storage environment, whichis also picking up and we have seen significant interest from corporates in this field. As infrastructure matures and network services are used by employees the bottleneck often occurs on the storage front,” says Rajeshree Desai, brand manager for TechKnowledge.

Security as a lucrative networking arena

The market figures for security clearly reflects the growth of this sector and the consequent need for professionals having information security skills. According to the ‘Review and forecast of packaged software market in India 2002’ brought out by IDC India, the security solutions market in India was estimated to be $13.4 million in 2002. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26 percent for a five-year period from 2003 to 2007. In order to cater to this huge demand, networking training players are already sprucing up their infrastructure to provide training in this space. “Since the network security space is emerging as a promising area, we are looking at tying up with significant players in this space like CIW, Checkpoint and Cisco pix firewalls and setting up a full-fledged security training centre by March 2004,” says Dhar.

Agrees Bhaskaran of CMS Computers, which is already offering security courses from Checkpoint, covering topics like securing remote clients, creating a security policy, etc. CIW’s Security Analyst programme covers topics such as network security and firewalls, operating system security, security auditing, attacks and threat analysis.

Networking and Linux

From college geeks to huge enterprises—nearly every organisation in India is looking at adopting Linux. According to Red Hat India, which is the largest reseller of software and support for Linux in India, the demand for training is growing rapidly. A recent S G Cowen survey has found a growing interest in Linux in areas like application servers, email and database systems and have concluded that Linux will change the landscape of corporate data centres. IDC estimates that in another three to four years, Windows and Linux will each have one half of the server market to themselves. All this boils down to nothing but a need for Linux training centres and Linux professionals.

Currently the certification courses offered by Red Hat include Red Hat Networking and Security Administration, Red Hat Enterprise Deployment and Systems Management Description and Red Hat Enterprise Directory Services and Authentication. “Over the last two years we have seen a major growth of students enrolling for Red Hat Linux course. In the year 2002-03 we had close to 5,000 students at various training centres only for training on Red Hat Linux. This financial year i.e. 2003-04 we are already witnessing over 8,000 students enrolled for the certification courses,” says Shankar Iyer, head, Learning Services, Red Hat India.

Though the company claims that they do not have access to any scrupulous research on Linux market in India, the total Linux service market in India is pegged roughly at around $20 million. “The rising service market reflects that the demand for Linux professionals in India is on the rise” says Iyer. RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) course is ranked among top ten courses in the world and is often referred by corporates as an industry standard.

Conclusion

To sum it up, the network training segment is going through a positive phase. A phase of maturity has come in the networking training arena where certifications serve as a benchmark for excellence in individual products. With the convergence of security and storage in networking, expect this segment to be the one bright spot for IT training majors.